A/N: Last chapter before epilogue! I can't believe it! I want to thank everyone who has continued to read my stories and who has reviewed. I really do appreciate it. I hope you will read A Ballerina's Tale and I'm hoping to start another story that is a movie crossover with Titanic. I also just realized that I had been spelling "stared" wrong. I put "starred" instead. Whoops.
The curtain fell behind me; hiding me in complete darkness. I had heard shouts and cursing. "Shit! We lost her too, just like the Phantom." Someone complained.
"Oh quit your complaining, Jack. We'll find her." Some man yelled.
Meanwhile on the other side of the lake Erik and Helen were heading back to their world; a world that had been foreign to me for so long. Neither Helen nor Erik spoke, she was hurt from watching the kiss Erik and I had shared. Erik was debating whether he made the right choice or not. Finally Erik asked his fiancée, "Are you going to be alright Helen?"
"I'll be fine." She lied. Erik didn't know how to comfort her. How could you comfort your fiancée when she had just been kidnapped, tied up, a knife had been against her throat, and had seen her soon-to-be-husband kissing the person who had kidnapped her and put her through hell in the first place.
When they had arrived at the mirror and crossed over, there was a commotion outside. Erik and Helen had already seen the mob swimming across the lake and believed it was probably another mob forming to come and murder me. The first mob had swarmed right past them, not even acknowledging the fact that they were alive. "Helen you need to go home, a lot has happen tonight. It's not safe. I need to stay here and see how bad it is." Erik said. Helen could only gape. Not believing what he had just said. She then nodded her head, gave him a lingering kiss on the lips and began to walk towards the door. She stopped when her hand touched the doorknob. She turned around and softly said, "Erik, I love you."
"I know. I love you too." Erik's heart was breaking. He was torn between Helen and I. She then turned around and left. Erik looked at the mirror, longingly and hoping that my face would appear behind the mirror. He had hoped that the mob did not find me. Erik could see in his reflection the door opening. 'It's probably Helen' Erik thought carelessly, but instead he found the one woman who had haunted him for years, the girl whose voice tortured his thoughts and dreams. "Christine." His breath caught in his throat, not believing it was her.
"Erik." She whispered. He could only nod. There were no words for how happy he was to see her, but at the same time hurt. Tears began to form in her eyes; threatening to spill. It was the same for him. She ran towards him and flung her arms around him, hugging him tight. "I'm so sorry Erik, what I had done to you. I regret it every day, I do. Oh I love you so much." She was now crying, hard. "Let me stay with you, Erik. Let me spend the rest of my days with you, please, I need you." She begged desperately.
Erik looked into her chocolate brown eyes. 'They are so childlike' he mused. "Has the Vicomte hurt you in any way?" Erik asked with concern.
"Of coarse not, he has been good to me, I love him. I really do, but not as much as I love you. Our marriage has been one big like," Erik guided her to a chair and sat opposite from her.
"Christine," He said softly, "You know I still care about you, but I… I don't love you. I thought I did, but it had turned into an obsession and a contest. I gave up on you a long time ago. I had to, for your sake and mine. Right now, I am torn between two women that I am in love with. I don't even know what to do." Erik buried his face into his hands.
"Erik, is this between the Phantress of the Opera and that other girl, Helen?" Christine asked gently.
"Yes," He sighed. She sighed too. Erik was unsure if it was a sigh from being hurt or from understanding.
For a few moments it was quiet in that dressing room, which held so many memories. Both of them were remembering the same thing. The years they had spent together: Erik giving Christine lessons, and telling her lies. And then that night that would change everything; the night when Erik showed her a world where there was no such thing as daylight, only dreams and imagination. A world where you must leave all thoughts of the life you knew before.
Christine finally said, "Erik, don't make the same mistake that I did. Don't torture yourself; you have done enough of that. You don't deserve it. I regret my choice every day. Picture your life with both of them: which one will give you the most excitement, which one who can make you happy, till the day you die?" Erik began to imagine what is life would be like with both Helen and I.
"Christine, do you have any idea who the Phantress is?" He asked suddenly.
"No, I don't Erik, though I've heard her voice somewhere before." Christine said remembering what she had witness only hours ago.
"Do you remember Emily House, the maid here at Opera Populaire?" Erik asked.
Christine thought hard; trying to remember everyone she had once known. She then suddenly remembered, not believing it was the maid she had known since they were young, teenagers. "Emily? How? How can that be? She was so beautiful."
"I think she traded her beauty for my monstrosity." Erik said frustrated. "But why? Why would she do this to herself?" Erik slammed his fist on the dressing table. Christine flinched. She knew he was growing angry. "Why would she make herself go through such hell? She knew what kind of life I lived. She had seen it. She had known it since she had first arrived!"
"Have you ever thought, that maybe she did it, because she loves you? Have you ever thought that maybe, just maybe, she was willing to sacrifice everything, just so you could find peace and happiness?" Christine asked carefully.
Before Erik could answer, Raoul came charging in. They glared at each other. Raoul knew it was him, even if Erik had lost his twisted flesh. "Christine, I have been looking all over for you. We need to get out of here, it's not safe. The children will be worried sick. We've been gone longer than we were supposed to be." He said. Christine's eyes widen. 'Was it possible, that Christine forgot her own children, for a brief moment?' Erik wondered.
"Of course, just give me a moment Raoul, please?" She pleaded.
"You've got two minutes." He said coolly.
When Raoul had slammed the door Christine turned around and looked Erik straight in the eye. "Erik you must choose now. You haven't passed the point of no return until you walk out of that door or through that mirror." She said. "Don't make the biggest mistake of your life Erik, don't do what is right. Learn from my mistakes. Follow your heart." She then got up, hugged him, kissed him on the cheek, and scurried out. Erik then decided. He would not give one glance. He was choosing the best way to save himself from solitude and darkness.
I had been hiding in the tunnel for well over an hour, until finally I heard the mob leave. When I opened up the curtain, I wasn't prepared for what I saw. More tears streamed down my face. It looked just like it had 8 years ago. Everything was tilted over or broken, they had been merciless. I walked to the edge of the water, to find the dagger, gleaming at the bottom of the shallow lake. I took the knife, gently out. 'Could this be the cause of my death' I asked myself. Well there was only one way to find out. I placed the sharp knife against my breast. I took a deep breath. "This is it." I said. I closed my eyes. I was about to stab my broken heart when I heard, something that I thought I would never hear again:
No one would listen
No one, but her
Heard as the outcast hears
Erik was coming around the corner on the boat. He smiled; the brightest smile I have ever seen. I could only cry.
Shamed into solitude
Shunned by the multitude
I learned to listen
In my dark, my heart heard music
I longed to teach the world
Rise up and reach the world
No one would listen
I alone could feel the music
Then at last a voice in the gloom
Seemed to cry, "I hear you;
I hear your fears, your torment and your tears."
He jumped out of the boat into the water. I came running towards him and leaped into his arms. We both fell into the water, not carrying if the water was freezing. He then picked me up and began to carry me to shore, while he sang:
She saw my loneliness
Shared in my emptiness
No one would listen
No one, but her
Heard as the outcast hears
He carried me to the bedroom; laying me gently on the bed. He kissed me passionately on the lips. Neither of us ever wanted to let this moment go. He then broke the kiss and began to undo my dress as he sang:
No one would listen
No one, but her
Heard as the outcast hears…
The End
A/N: Well that's it! Thank you to everyone who has been reading my story. Now for the epilogue!